critical commentary on adult production

Menu

Interesting News (10/28/12)

I am just just JUST back from San Francisco and the Good Vibrations Sex Summit (which was amazing, btw!!) More on that in the very near future, but here is some super interesting news that I didn’t get to before I left – enjoy!!

October 23, 2012 – Tracy Clark-Flory let’s us all know that our homemade porn is safe!!

Now here’s a headline that will make many hearts stop: “Study: Vast Majority Of Homemade Porn, Private Photos End Up Online.” CBS alarmingly reports today that “The vast majority of homemade pornography and private images on personal computers ends up on public websites called ‘parasites.’” To which I exclaimed a string of expletives that I won’t repeat here.

Tracy then goes on to let us know exactly how and why this study has been misrepresented – awesome.

And timely!! Tracy was at the Sex Summit this weekend, and during her panel she mentioned that one thing she enjoys (and does often) is calling out bad reporting. That, and that the headline of a story is often the only thing that sticks.

Tracy puts crappy reporting on blast here… and gives us a nice headline to latch on to.

Recently (October 15, 2012), Maggie Mayhem wrote about Prop 35 and Measure B… and why you should vote “NO!!” on both.

Maggie Mayhem is a radical progressive sex hacker, writer, and performer based in Oakland, CA. Maggie and her partner Ned run MeetThe Mayhems.Com, which is a queer take on couples porn. She has done a great many things – from being in all sorts of adult content to speaking at Yale University to volunteering in HIV care and disaster relief in Tanzania and Haiti. She’s extremely intelligent and very well-spoken. (Maggie was at Sex Summit this past weekend, too!!)

…Michael Weinstein is in charge of AHF and is the primary proponent of Measure B on the grounds that porn sets a bad standard of safe sex.

With my bright green pubic bush slightly dusted with glitter, I stood publicly [at the Folsom Street Fair] in opposition of one man’s mandate that my speech uphold an agenda. If a piece of legislation states that condomless sex in porn sets a bad standard, then where are the groups lobbying that action films must depict safe driving and gun handling standards?

If you’re looking at health and safety, the statistics demonstrate that the rigorous testing in porn has dropped the rate of infection for HIV below the average. This is striking to me because of my background in HIV testing. Oh, that there were the outcry around the social and cultural factors around HIV infection in the homeless teenagers I tested for HIV with preliminary and confirmatory positive results. As someone with one foot in both worlds, I am utterly appalled. (here)

Maggie goes on, offering up some insights that are definitely worth the read.

Pornography is a big industry—especially in Southern California. It claims to generate 1 to 2 billion dollars and provide as many as 10,000 jobs. But it’s the few hundred performers who are the targets of Measure B on next month’s LA County ballot. It would require condoms for all male performers—in the interests of preventing the spread of sexually transmitted disease. What would it take to enforce the new law? Would there still be an audience for the films? Would the industry leave town—taking away all those jobs? Would it work, or would a legal industry be pushed underground where the risks would be even greater. Public health and medical organizations support it. But—as we’ll hear tonight– it’s divided business interests—and the performers themselves. (here)

This debate/discussion, which is just under 24 minutes long, features insights from James Lee, Rebecca Bardot, Derrick Burts, and Michael Weinstein himself.